(Part 2) : A day trip to North of Bali – BEDUGUL

– There are still many places in Bali I have not yet discovered and explored despite the fact that I’ve been living here for about 9,5 years.This is a serial of 3 blog posts of A Day trip to North of Bali (trilogy!). Written NOT in an order of where to visit first, although for your easy guide, I will give an itinerary that most people usually does. Enjoy! –

Three places to visit when you go to Bedugul : Ulun Danu Temple on Lake Beratan – Bedugul Botanical Garden – Bedugul Fruit & Vegetable Market. The last one will be featured on my Bali culinary blog soon! Stay tune! Most people will visit Bedugul first before they explore other area on the north of Bali. But as I pointed out on my previous blog post of Munduk Waterfall, be free on deciding your itinerary. I visited Munduk Village on one rainy day without going to Bedugul first.

ULUN DANU TEMPLE – BEDUGUL
Bedugul is a mountain lake resort area in Bali, located in the centre-north region of the island near Lake Bratan on the road between Singaraja and Denpasar. Bedugul is located at 48 kilometres north of the city of Denpasar, about 2,5 hours driving from Ngurah Rai International Airport (I could make it faster with Bart as the speedy gonzales driver:p). Other nearby lakes are Lake Buyan, and Lake Tamblingan. Bedugul enjoys a mild mountain weather due to its location at an altitude of about 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) above the sea level.

Major sites in Bedugul are the Pura Ulun Danu water temple and the Bedugul Botanical Gardens. (source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedugul). Ulun Danu Temple is a Balinese Hindu Temple set in the lakeside of Beratan and as an icon of the tourist destination in Bali. But for me it is like a floating temple on a lake – Beratan Lake! There is this constant fog layering the atmosphere when you enter the lake area..so mysterious. To get to the temple you really have to watch for the park announcement updating the situation in allowing you to go ahead crossing the lake or not.

I found this cool wooden deck and just had to stop for a quick pose before continuing exploring the temple and the lake area then move to Botanical Garden which is located only 10 minutes from Bedugul mountain lake resort.

EKA KARYA BALI BOTANIC GARDEN– BEDUGUL
The Botanical Garden, opened in 1959 under the name Eka Karya. With a total area of 157.5 Ha and is the largest in Indonesia. Some of the specialist collections include: orchids, ceremonial plants, medicinal plants, cactus, ferns, aquatic plants and trees. It is a place for recreation as well as for scientific, cultural and technical activities purposes. You will be amazed with the tropical rainforest plants and birdlife here and more than 2000 species of plants preserved at Bali Botanic Garden, represent plants from the eastern part of Indonesia: Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.

The Garden opened for whole year seven days a week, except on Nyepi Day Most of area will open from 08.00 AM – 06.00 PM, however some glasshouses such as orchids, cactus and Begonia may be closed earlier at 04.00 PM (source : http://kebunrayabali.com ).

Other fun activity for children & adults :
– Get your picnic gears and food! The Lake side is the most favorite spot.
– Bali Tree Top Adventure – 5 Adventure Circuits from one tree to another with height range between 2-20 meters.65 challenges for all level and ages : Suspended bridges, Spider Nets, Tarzan Jumps, Flying-Fox, Flying Swings, and many more fun challenges. Visit : http://balitreetop.com
– Visit Orchid & Cactus houses

This place is also used for Group retreat activity and even fashion photo shoots! I remember back in the days of my office job working for Bali’s finest event company, Balistarz who also doing a photo production service, we organised a photoshoot with Western model from Singapore and Italian photographer , shooting a new collection of Bali based brilliant dream dresses fashion brand : Dinda Rella. Bedugul is stunning!

Photo courtesy of www.dindarella.com – Photo production at Bedugul Botanic Garden by www.balistarz.com

An ideal and strongly suggest itinerary for a day trip to Bedugul & Singaraja area would be :
– Bedugul (Visit Ulun Danu Temple, Botanical Garden)
– Munduk Waterfall
– Munduk Village, to stop by an open air sitting area overlooking 2 magnificent lakes of Tamblingan and Buyan, next to each other, side by side.
– On the way back to Bedugul, a MUST visit to : Bedugul Market and watch an array of ‘warung’/stall displaying fresh colorful fruits and vegetable, harvested from Bedugul land.